The Return of Beautiful Weather

It didn't take long for the perfect San Diego weather to return. It has been so nice, and expected through Tuesday. It has resulted in some long walks and sitting at my favorite place, Eva Cohen Hartogkade, writing or reading...or just watching the boats/ships go by and the bridges going up and down letting them through! Yesterday I walked all the way to the Stadhuis and back. Here are some photos from that trip:

Nederlandse sort of geese with their 8 gooslings

Across from the stadhuis was a campaign to encourage people to throw chewing gum in the trash cans rather than throw it on the sidewalk.

Here's a large trash can with the slogan--Together we make Rotterdam chewing gum free.

Two guys were dressed to look like gum and followed close behind people to tell them how gum sticks to your shoes. Then there were two gals in pink dresses with blazers, which I can't believe I didn't get a picture of, who were giving out packs of gum wrapping papers...pretty neat. She gave me a couple so I'll keep them in my bag as I travel.

This is the guy that followed me...he wanted his picture taken.

These are the artistic flowers in front of the Stadhuis.

The Maastoren from coming back over the Erasmusburg. It reached it's highest point this week making it the highest building in the Netherlands. Construction workers were even working on it yesterday!

And now it's late and I'm falling asleep so more will have to wait for tomorrow and you know why I love walking around this city...you never know what you're going to find or who you're going to run into.

Storm Ends the Sunny Days

Well, I do have many pictures and some to write about the summer weather we've been having here, but first...yesterday was warm, humid and not so sunny. It was also very quiet and still. It's so weird when it's like that because there are so many people around but it's quiet. All I thought was it is the calm before the storm.

First around 9ish last night a strong wind came through. People in back still had wash out and were scrambling to get it inside, along with other items they may have left on their balconey, before the rain came. That strong wind was pushing these black clouds over. It is so neat to be up high and be in a flat place to see it all happening. The rain started and there was some thunder and lightening. It didn't last long and then really cleared up, including drying up. But that wasn't all...

We went to bed and when I got up to give the cats more food at around 2 (Yes they get me up usually at least 2x at night, I can easily ignore them but Arjan can't thus I have this problem.) I saw plenty of lightening in the distance and heard no thunder. 3:48 a.m. it hit and was one of the worst storms I've seen. I just couldn't believe how much lightening was flashing, over 200,000 flashes in the country, 3-4 flashes at a time, over 75,000 bolts to the ground, the wind was blowing so strong I expected to see trees falling over--which they did in some places, and it was just pouring rain and hail. We had to quick put towels at the front windows because, even though they were replaced and fixed to prevent this and we haven't had a problem since then, this rain and wind was just too hard. The meterologists say this is a once in 5 year occurence.

I was so glad I didn't have to go anywhere today, especially because train and tram service was pretty messed up. It has been windy most of the day and didn't rain here for a good part of the morning and early afternoon. So, I went out to get a couple groceries and the free newspapers and to access the damage. (One storm the first fall I was here broke a tree down on cars a street over.) My camera batteries were gone so I only got the picture of the where the tree broke.

This is some of the damage in my walk today, all just trees.

Lots of big branches all the way down, fortunately in the grass and not on the cars.

Three young trees fell over on this street...crews were already a couple streets over putting the trees that had fallen over on there back up with big poles on each side to hold them in place.

I saw two trees like this with a huge entire limb broken off.

Thankfully, the weather will be getting better, with little rain predicted. It is evidenced again today by the sun making it's appearance this evening, and still setting, yes the sunset is almost 10 p.m. already. This is just one more reason I tell people this is the new San Diego...even if it rains, the sun seems to make an appearance at least once in that day.

Here's the picture from about half an hour ago.

Verjaardagen in Netherlands

Birthday's in Netherlands are yet another event that has many differences than in the US. First off, there is no:

"Gelukkig Verjaardag"/"Happy Birthday".

singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out candles on a cake. They do sell candles, but I have yet to attend a birthday where someone blew out a candle on their b'day so I don't think their Dutch.
ice cream, again there may be some people that have it but it has not been at any I've been to.

freebies of free ice cream or meal or so much percent off because it's your b'day--one reason I'd like to spend my b'day in the US this year!

party games or favors.

helium balloons.

picture taking.

"extravagent" children's parties, though I did see one in KFC one day but they were probably allochtoonen/foreigners, which the Dutch call anyone who is not white and born in the Netherlands. (A subject for another post!)

family, friends, or co-workers taking the b'day person out for anything or surprising them at work with a cake.

How a birthday is celebrated in Netherlands...

"Gefeliciteerd" or "Hartelijk gefeliciteerd" is the birthday greeting offered and heard. It means "Congratulations" or "Warm/Hearty congratulations". This is said to family members, friends, and everyone in attendance at a birthday gathering.

Sometimes it involves decorations, which you'll see in the pictures, and it's not uncommon to be walking and see in windows or on doors possibly a few blow up balloons taped with the age that a child it turning or the age an adult is turning when it's an important one. Often you'll see the name. I've also seen something printed from the computer, along with the photo of the birthday person announcing the birthday, taped to windows.

The birthday person is supposed to host everyone. For children this means preparing a treat and party bag for their class in addition to taking something to share with all the teachers and administration at the school. Now, you can imagine how some of the American mom's here have responded to this when they're making something like Rice Krispie Treats, which is costly here, or fancy cupcakes. BUT, it is ok to just bring a common cookie for the rest of the teachers and staff on a plate to share.

For a working person it involves providing a cake or treat for all your co-workers. I keep trying to explain, even with my pictures, of how it's the other way around in the US.

For any birthday person it means hosting family, and maybe some friends and/or neighbors, at the birthday person's house for what many expats call the "Birthday Circle". Basically everyone sits around the living room, or outside if it's nice, after they have walked around, done the 3 fake kisses or a handshake and "Gefeliciteerd" everyone already in attendance. Then you are asked what you want to drink and offered a piece of tart which translates to cake but also means a pie here. What you receive is 99% of the time a store or bakery bought cake, which sometimes isn't much like any cake I'm used to, or an appel tart, or sometimes a tompouce. A cake typically has a large filling of cream and often fruit between two layers of a cake with a thick whipped cream frosting then sometimes a thin layer of another type of icing that has a decoration painted on it. You never see the full cake because it has already been cut into, and looking at the whipped cream on top, I think a candle would sink right down into it.

Note to Americans: Remain seated during the entire time at the b'day. It is ok to change seats or get up to use the bathroom but DO NOT offer help to the birthday person and/or their parents if it's a child's b'day. The birthday person or their parents and grandparents do everything and they do not like to be helped. Also remember this as you have people over for your b'day, you will be doing all the work, noone will be taking their dishes to the kitchen or offering to help. Disclaimer: I am almost certain there'd be one woman at the American Club who has a Dutchie man disagree with this and proceed to tell me how helpful her Dutch family is so it may happen, but Arjan's family is about as Dutch as they get so I'm basing it on my experience with a very Dutch, little English speaking, family.

After enough people have arrived the host(ess) begins with the rounds of appetitizers, I'll call them. No, they are not put on a table and people go around and pick what they want--I attempted that on Arjan's b'day the first year I was here and they didn't know what to do. Instead, the host walks around with a plate or two offering it to every guest. Note to Americans: You may only take 1 item from what is offered. After making the rounds, what's left is often put on a coffee table in the middle at which time you are welcome to partake in more, though most Dutch don't so that plate will make another round later.

The appetitizers can consist of pieces of various sausages and cheese with mustard to dip them in, cucumbers, ham rolled with cream cheese in the middle, ham rolled with a pickle in the middle, Melba toast with cheese or some sort of salad--which is bought in the deli section of a supermarket, nuts, when there are kids typically thin pretzel sticks, and sometimes some of the special items the supermarkets are now making. For instance, on Sunday we had olives, little sweet peppers filled with cheese, and sun dried tomatoes with now I forget what but I was almost the only person who ate these "strange", new to NL items. Plates with one or two different items are brought around every 10 minutes or so till they are all served. At that time if there are plates on the table with a lot left on, those plates are taken around one by one for another round.

In cases of birthday's for children, expect to see little of the birthday child...they will either be in their room playing or where the computer is playing games with the other children who have come to the birthday, which are typically no more than a handful. Some parents do actually have a separate children's party, inviting children over for lunch, a piece of cake, and to play.

Besides drinking and eating in this circle, everyone talks, and when I say everyone, I mean everyone, except those who don't know the language well and have noone to speak their language with. Honestly, the Dutch are talkers and talk at the same time so there can easily be 3 or 4 conversations going on at the same time, enough to leave my brain aching when I first came and didn't know much Nederlands. For some, like our family who really only see each other on birthday's and the New Year, it's a time to catch up with family, for others it's comparing what your children are doing in school or your past or future vacation.

People come and go throughout the afternoon and most often immediate family stays for dinner, which may consist of soup and a sandwich, nothing special. Gifts are often money for children, flowers for women, wine or beer for a man and then sometimes a little something else, like special teas or cologne and opened as they are received, not all at one time.

Special yeared b'days can be a whole other ball game. These years it is custom for the birthday person to treat family and friends to a big party or dinner out. I couldn't believe it...that's expensive but in Arjan's case, he saves up for it as he expects it. Gifts are more "extravagant" these years as well, like the family coming together to get a decent sized gift certificate for a store or a big gift the birthday person has wanted.

Now you know why I would like to be in the US this year for my 50th! When that day comes, I'll tell you all about the big 5-0 in Netherlands. I cannot believe that my bestest bestest friend is going to be turning it tomorrow--the first friend in "my" year to do so! Happy, happy 50th b'day, ME!

Here are photos from the birthday of our great nephew Dennis' 10th b'day we celebrated on Sunday.


The Birthday Boy--the only time he sat down in the circle.


His brother Casper talking with Arjan about how he's doing in soccer, he got to move up a divison.


Casper, Arjan, and Casper & Dennis' father Ronald listening to Ronald's mother tell some story.


She was probably telling the story of this man, her boyfriend Giel, and how he was almost sleeping till I came in. He got so excited, said, "The Belle is here," and he was the only one on the sofa so I went and sat with him and he again told me more about his two trips to the US, where his sister has lived for over 53 years near Palm Springs. One time he bought Amtrak's 6 week rail pass and really travelled the country. He has been to Holland, MI and to Iowa where the Dutch live, surprised so many Dutchies would live in such a place. In this picture he's waving to me as he is on his way out the door to go home and take a nap.


One of, if not the, newest members of our family, Amber sitting on Ingrid, Ronald's sister's, lap having a conversation with me, now wondering where my face went. She was born in November to Simone, our niece, and Roel.


Amber with her family--Oma--Sjanet, Arjan's youngest sibling, and the b'day boy's Oma, Papa Roel, and Mama Simone. (The Dutch equivalient to Daddy and Mommy.)

A Trip to the Library

Today was so much fun. After attempting to do a visit in Ijsselmonde, a Rotterdam neighborhood south of us, only to find the business has gone out of business, nice so I don't have to write much in Netherlands, I went to Rotterdam's Central Library to meet Laurie. I've mentioned Laurie before and we are getting to be very good friends, we are each other's kind of people/friends. It is so neat hearing her tell me about her friends in the US she'd like to introduce me to because we'd get along so well, and likewise I feel the same about her. I am so thankful to God for bringing Laurie to Rotterdam. So, she'd never been to the library and her husband is on a week's business trip leaving her here alone so we got together and I showed her the library.

A few of you, or I should say I only actually know for sure one of you, have been in Rotterdam's Central Bibliotheek. It is a modern 7 story building and the absolute nicest libary I have ever been in. It has totally been renewed since I was last there last summer making it that much nicer. The first floor still has the giant chess game and you checking your books, CD's, and DVD's out is now self-service. In the large magazine/newspaper area there are individual desks that slant and are big to hold a large newspaper and open it up and there's a light directly above providing excellent lighting for reading. Instead of one computer room they now have computers on levels 2-7 and they are now free for 30 minutes or if noone's waiting you can continue to log on for 30 minutes. There are so many around now, there were plenty available today. It used to be you had to pay to use the computers.

One of the differences here in NL and a shock to Americans is that library cards aren't free. Part of the library's funding comes from the yearly membership dues, which are needed to check out books. The current fee is 30 Euros per year. It allows you to check out 10 library items at a time and gives you a 3 week due date. For 46 Euros you can check out 15 library items for up to 6 weeks.

Laurie wanted to look at the children's books...yes, for those of you who know my love for children's books, you know we hit it off even more. Laurie used to work in a children's book store. Plus, it is an easy way to practice and learn some Netherlands. So she read a book and I helped her with the words she didn't know. It took a while but was so fun. Unfortunately the picture I took of her holding the book turned out blurry...looking forward to getting a new camera with a bigger screen! We'll have to restage it when we return there on Tuesday, as there is no Sit & Stitch this week. I did get one from behind her, showing very little of her.

After our library stunt we went across the way to Bagels & Beans. I used to go to this place quite a bit but haven't been there in probably a year and the owner recognized me, was so happy to see me, and remembered what I most often got...a cinnamon raisin bagel with honey walnut cream cheese and a cappuccino. Today we both needed more substantial food so we both got the tuna melt on a whole wheat bagel. It was delicious. When the gal that waited on us first came to our table to take our drink orders, we only spoke in Nederlands. Laurie needed to use the back part of the menu that is in English and when the gal came for our order, Laurie spoke first in English and the gal looked totally shocked, asked if we were English, said she thought we were Netherlanders, and when Laurie told her that she only speaks a "klein beetje", meaning a little bit, but I speak much more and could pass, the gal said that we both did great and she would have never known. Yes, Laurie is doing really well teaching herself and just interested in learning the language so loves to hear me say things and teach her new words and such, something else that's so nice as so many Americans are just here for a short time, they don't care about learning much of the language.

After our late lunch we went through Rotterdam's big market, right by the library, in search of two bouquets that I needed to get for the birthday's Arjan and I have to go to tomorrow and I found a 5 bunches for 2.50 deal. They are so nice but I forgot to take a picture and Arjan has set them outside for the night so the cats don't eat them then I'll make 2 bouquets in the morning and the rest for us! Then I found other great deals there...unfortunately I didn't buy the raspberries 2/2 Euros but I did get a nice head of andive for 65 Euro cents, over a pound of beautiful looking green beans for 50 Euro cents, and 2 lent onions for 30 Euro cents. You can not go wrong at the end of the day at the market and I found in the Centrum they let you get just a couple things...the market by us usually won't sell less than a kilo at the end of the day which is usually too much for us and Arjan gets upset because we'll end up not using some, even if it was so cheap. I told him I'm going to the Centrum market for the deals on Saturday. Our kaas (cheese) man is also at that market on Saturday's, though we are in routine of getting the kaas on Wednesday's when he's at the market by us.

Oh, yeah, and as I was walking to the library from Beurs, there at the C & A, a clothing store, there was a mob of people that I had to take a picture of because it was so American looking. From what was painted on the windows, apparently smoke had infiltrated the store so they were having a 50% off pretty much everything due to the smoke damage. The store wasn't opening till 1:30 and it was 12 someone inside the store needed an ambulance and stretcher and when the worker opened the door to direct the ambulance, the people pushed in the door and the ambulance workers ended up having to go round another way and I left as the male workers and police were getting the people out. I really didn't expect to see such a sight. When I walked back when I was going home, there were signs on the windows that they were not able to open today and would be tomorrow. Another madhouse I'm sure.

Ok, time for bed and hopefully tomorrow will bring you photos from the infamous Dutch "birthday circle", most English speaking expats call it.





The mob in front of C & A.

The ambulance arrives.

Koninginnedag Rommelmarkt

Oranjetompouce/poes (Albert Hein spelled it the first way, my dictionary the second) is a treat for the day being it's orange. It's a bit like a thick eclair that's square with an icing on top. Most often you see it in pink and can see it at birthday's. But all the stores had orange for Queen's Day.



April 30 is Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) in Netherlands. It is a feest (party) day when the royal family visits typically a small town and a larger city. Here they walk the streets and/or through a park and/or on a boat. The idea is that they shake hands with people and participate in normal party life with the community. It begins with the royal family arriving and all the females in the royal family are given a bunch of flowers by 6-9ish year girls chosen from the community. Along the way some people give gifts to the family which can be a bunch of flowers, a letter or drawing from a child, to something like a small painting someone has painted for them. Old and new games are played. Like this year there was hitting a golf ball and trying to get it in the hole of a golf mound that was floating in the water, one prince accomplished that. Then there was another activity, not sure what it's called, but bikes are attached some how to a pole and as you pedal, the bike goes up and the first person to the top wins, so you have to pedal hard, again another prince was very adapt at this. One prince races cars so they had a race car there and had contests as to who could put the new tires onto the car. Apeldoorn, where Queen's Day was held this year, has the nation's champion volleyball team so volleyball was played as the family went through the park. You typically see people dressed in the area's traditional clothing, which doesn't all look like the pictures most of us grew up seeing, old vehicles, bikes, and other interesting items from days past. It's a good learning experience.


Then this year the terrible accident happened that ended killing seven people. There are six people of ten wounded still in the hospital, two are children and only one woman remains in serious condition. Today it was announced that Queen's Day will continue as it has for the past 30 years. I'm sure there will be more security measures in place, like for the remembrance service last night in Amsterdam, they placed police vehicles blocking all road entrances possible into the area, and extended that area. In this announcement they stressed that is is very important for the royal family to remain visible to the people and interact with the people, saying this royal family is the most visible with it's people.

Besides what the royal family does, most of the country isn't there so they have their own party. It begins with the rommelmarkt flea market. In Netherlands it is illegal for people to have garage or yard sales, and I don't think you can openly have that sort of sale inside your house either, except for one day and that is April 30th. Some places people just lay a blanket in front of their house and sell their junk, which most of it is. In larger cities it's more organized with the marking off a street for everyone to claim a spot to sell. Actually in Utrecht this event happens the night before, a night where there can be other parties, mostly for young people. There's typically Queen's Day celebrations orgainized in cities with rides for kids and big music festivals and fire works. With the tragedy this year, most of these bigger events were called off or scaled why down. (Rumor was that Rotterdam was going to do it's fireworks tonight, Liberation/ Freedom Day, but it's rainy and very windy so it may get postponed till yet another date.)


Right near us here on "Boulevard Zuid"--Beijerlandselaan that turns into Groenhilledijk--which stores line, is the designated rommelmarkt, along with a more typical type street event that happens about four times a year. They reroute the tram so it doesn't go down the street, block off the street, and vendors buy tables to sell their goods/food, as well as stores along the way had sale merchandise/things they're trying to get rid of, out on the sidewalk for sale as well. There were a couple carnival rides and pony rides for children. I made my way down there in the afternoon and got these pictures, most of which I call "What do you see in this picture you could have had?" They also do a great job of showing the ethnicity that makes up the area.















In front of McDonald's





People were making and selling food or, like this man, BBQing food for family or friends.


Pony rides on the tram tracks

These guys, with a couple gals, were seen in Rotterdam Centraal station the day before Queen's Day on their way to the night's celebration in the city.